lcd screen calibration manufacturer

To our customers’ benefit, we perform a variety of laboratory processes that quantify or enhance the capabilities of our LCD and monitor products. One is our display calibration and matching process, which provides our customers with cross display image uniformity and true-to-life image reproduction.

Display calibration and matching (DCM) ensures that multiple monitors operated side by side—such as in an air traffic control tower or a shipboard navigation system—appear identical. This is accomplished by calibrating display attributes to a common standard, or to a customer-specific criteria. The following display attributes can be calibrated:

The importance of display calibration cannot be overstated. Involving the use of both hardware and software elements, it ensures that a display is efficiently operating at its full quality capabilities. In fact, display settings that degrade the performance of panels can be adjusted to optimal values during calibration. The primary benefits of matching monitors to each other are:

General Digital-trained technicians set up the target monitors in our Optics Laboratory. The monitors are connected to high performance video generators and colorimeters. Special software is run to analyze the monitors under a wide range of video modes and test conditions to gather performance data, which is analyzed to determine optimal calibration. After calibration is successfully performed, a calibration certificate is generated that summarizes the user adjustable video settings, so that the values can be restored if unintentionally modified.

General Digital can perform the DCM process on any of its monitors and display kits, from 5" to 65" LCDs incorporating various technologies. Also, many organizations send their displays to General Digital’s Optical Bonding Laboratory (OBL) for bonding or other optical enhancements. We can calibrate these displays to D65 standards, achieving a full range of accurate picture colors, provided they are supplied with all of the required electronics and final display overlays (see below).

For a proper calibration, we ensure that we have, at minimum, the display(s) or monitor(s) complete with overlays, film work, backlight, backlight controller and LCD controller. Note that we use LCD controllers compatible with our in-house equipment; for third-party displays, we require the same.

General Digital recommends that calibration be performed once a year, after the initial calibration, in order to enjoy and maintain all of the benefits associated with display calibration and matching.

With the many benefits it offers, high quality display calibration and matching ensures that our customers get the most out of their display or monitor. General Digital performs this process as part of our commitment to providing superior quality display products. Our specialized equipment coupled with our stellar experience means your monitors and displays are optimized to the highest level attainable. And with that, General Digital will provide maintenance and support for years to come.

More and more industries, relying on the quality of their digital images, turn to professional displays, targeted at the particular market. These monitors tend to be much more expensive than consumer-grade displays with similar technical specifications. For display manufacturers the increased price pressure from the lower end of the market cause problems. Adding professional calibration software and integrated sensors to your displays will help increase the value and the gross profit.

At QUBYX we benefit from extensive research, know-how and innovation in digital color technologies. The calibration software we develop adds value to image reproduction hardware of our partners. LCD displays and projectors, equipped with QUBYX calibration software, reproduce even more accurate images, competitive to those of the most overpriced “professional” displays. A commercial LCD display or projector with QUBYX calibration software is the new level of image reproduction quality.

Innovative, personalized and discreet, our OEM services and products are developed to seamlessly integrate with your product. Over the years we have developed several display calibration applications for our customers, helping them to add value to their products and deliver turn-key solutions.

Automate your calibration with the built-in SelfCalibration sensor that is housed within the monitor"s bottom bezel and swings up onto the screen only when calibrating. This sensor eliminates the need for a third-party calibration device and even operates in portrait mode.

The monitor can be correlated to the measurement results of an external calibration sensor. After correlating, the built-in sensor will automatically recalibrate to the settings. This is convenient if the monitor is used in a work environment with other monitors and one measurement device must be used as a standard for all calibration.

Fluctuations in brightness and chromaticity on different parts of the screen are a common trait of LCD monitors. To counteract this, the monitor incorporates EIZO’ｓ patented digital uniformity equalizer (DUE) technology to ensure a Delta-E difference of 3 or less across the screen when the monitor leaves the factory. And now DUE also counterbalances the influences that a fluctuating ambient temperature may have on color temperature and brightness to ensure stable image display.

The bundled ColorNavigator software makes calibration both simple and quick. Just input target values for brightness, white point, and gamma. The built-in sensor directly utilizes the monitor"s look-up table and creates an ICC profile within minutes. You can always download the latest version of ColorNavigator for free here on eizo.com.

With ColorNavigator NX installed on workstations, an administrator can use ColorNavigator Network software to schedule self-calibration, set the color modes, activate key lock to prevent unintended changes to color settings (CG series), register or adjust asset management settings, and import/export monitor settings.

Adjust the screen to the most comfortable angle for you and reposition it to show your work to a colleague or client. The monitor comes with a versatile stand that offers height, tilt, and swivel adjustments as well as portrait mode display.

For dimly lit work environments like post production studios, the monitor comes with backlit control buttons and an on-screen button guide to indicate what each button is for.

Most shading hoods can only be used in landscape mode, but this monitor comes bundled with a unique hood that is designed for portrait mode as well. Now you can keep the glare off your screen no matter which mode you work in.

When viewing the screen from an angle in a dimly lit room, dark tones typically appear washed out due to the display characteristics of LCD backlights. The monitor has a high contrast ratio which allows the dark tones to retain their depth.

A safe area marker designates the area of the screen that will be displayed when the monitor is connected to a particular device. This allows you to check that subtitles and other text will be visible. This color of the marker is changeable to ensure it remains with any imagery.

EIZO’s ColorEdge monitors with built-in calibration sensors are developed and manufactured entirely in-house. See how they achieve the color precision and consistent image display needed for creative fields.

In February 2021, four of EIZO’s lead innovators accepted an Academy Sci-Tech Award (Technical Achievement) for the ColorEdge CG Series monitors with built-in calibration sensors. EIZO was the first manufacturer in the world to bring a self-calibrating color precision solution to market in 2010, and continues to commit itself to providing highly precise and sophisticated imaging solutions made with dedication and care.

In September 2020, the ColorEdge PROMINENCE CG3146 HDR reference monitor was awarded the 2020 Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Award for Engineering Excellence. As the first true HDR reference monitor in the world to be equipped with a built-in calibration sensor, it was recognized for its advanced technologies that put it at the forefront of innovation in creative visual solutions.

ColorEdge is a line of color management monitors developed specifically for addressing users in photography, film, broadcasting, printing, and other creative fields. For these industries, not only color fidelity, but display characteristics such as brightness, gamma, and uniformity across the screen need to be maintained so the final output content displays as intended in the target environment.

Each ColorEdge monitor undergoes rigorous quality control during production and is individually adjusted in-house using one of the color industry’s highest end, professional spectrophotometers. The human perception of color varies greatly depending on several factors such as ambient lighting, surrounding color, angle of observation, and individual optical variances. Using a high-quality sensor to adjust the monitors to meet certain color standards ensures consistency by minimizing the effect these variables have in the measurement results. EIZO’s factory uses sophisticated machinery in its production line to automatically carry out calibration for each monitor in a controlled environment. The sensor is placed directly over the monitor and red (R), green (G), and blue (B) gamma values are measured from 0 – 255. Then the monitor’s 16- or 24-bit LUT (look-up-table) is used to select the 256 most appropriate tones from trillions of perceivable colors to achieve the smoothest color gradations. This results in an image without deviated steps.

LCD monitors commonly exhibit fluctuations in brightness and chromaticity across the screen, which affects color precision. To counter this, EIZO also measures and adjust multiple points on each monitor to achieve stable brightness and chromaticity across the entire screen and correct deviations using its patented digital uniformity equalizer (DUE) technology. DUE controls the tone values pixel-by-pixel across the monitor for evenly distributed luminance.

You can do verification measurements to assess the display chain"s (display profile - video card and the calibration curves in its gamma table - monitor) fit to the measured data, or to find out about the soft proofing capabilities of the display chain. You can also do a profile or device link (3D LUT) self check without having to take any further measurements by holding the “alt” key on your keyboard.

To check the fit to the measurement data, you have to select a CGATS testchart file containing device values (RGB). The measured values are then compared to the values obtained by feeding the device RGB numbers through the display profile (measured vs expected values). The default verification chart contains 26 patches and can be used, for example, to check if a display needs to be re-profiled. If a RGB testchart with gray patches (R=G=B) is measured, like the default and extended verification charts, you also have the option to evaluate the graybalance through the calibration only, by placing a check in the corresponding box on the report.

Note that both tests are “closed-loop” and will not tell you an “absolute” truth in terms of “color quality” or “color accuracy” as they may not show if your instrument is faulty/measures wrong (a profile created from repeatable wrong measurements will usually still verify well against other wrong measurements from the same instrument if they don"t fluctuate too much) or does not cope with your display well (which is especially true for colorimeters and wide-gamut screens, as such combinations need a correction in hardware or software to obtain accurate results), or if colors on your screen match an actual colored object next to it (like a print). It is perfectly possible to obtain good verification results but the actual visual performance being sub-par. It is always wise to combine such measurements with a test of the actual visual appearance via a “known good” reference, like a print or proof (although it should not be forgotten that those also have tolerances, and illumination also plays a big role when assessing visual results). Keep all that in mind when admiring (or pulling your hair out over) verification results :)

There are currently two slightly different paths depending if a testchart or reference file is used for the verification measurements, as outlined above. In both cases, Argyll"s xicclu utility is run behind the scenes and the values of the testchart or reference file are fed relative colorimetrically (if no whitepoint simualtion is used) or absolute colorimetrically (if whitepoint simulation is used) through the profile that is tested to obtain corresponding L*a*b* (in the case of RGB testcharts) or device RGB numbers (in the case of XYZ or L*a*b* reference files or a combination of simulation profile and testchart). If a combination of simulation profile and testchart is used as reference, the reference L*a*b* values are calculated by feeding the device numbers from the testchart through the simulation profile absolute colorimetrically if whitepoint simulation is enabled (which will be the default if the simulation profile is a printer profile) and relative colorimetrically if whitepoint simulation is disabled (which will be the default if the simulation profile is a display profile, like most RGB working spaces). Then, the original RGB values from the testchart, or the looked up RGB values for a reference are sent to the display through the calibration curves of the profile that is going to be evaluated. A reference white of D50 (ICC default) and complete chromatic adaption of the viewer to the display"s whitepoint is assumed if “simulate whitepoint relative to display profile whitepoint” is used, so the measured XYZ values are adapted to D50 (with the measured whitepoint as source reference white) using the Bradford transform (see Chromatic Adaption on Bruce Lindbloom"s website for the formula and matrix that is used by DisplayCAL) or with the adaption matrix from the profile in the case of profiles with "chad" chromatic adaption tag, and converted to L*a*b*. The L*a*b* values are then compared by the generated dynamic report, with user-selectable critera and ΔE (delta E) formula.

It sets the nominal (target) L* value to the measured L* value and a*=b*=0, so the profile is effectively ignored and only the calibration (if any) will influence the results of the gray balance checks. Note that this option will not make a difference for a “Single curve + matrix” profile, as the single curve effectively already achieves a similar thing (the L* values can be different, but they are ignored for the gray balance checks and only influence the overall result).

If you enable “Use absolute values” on a report, the chromatic adaptation to D50 is undone (but the refrence white for the XYZ to L*a*b* conversion stays D50). This mode is useful when checking softproofing results using a CMYK simulation profile, and will be automatically enabled if you used whitepoint simulation during verification setup without enabling whitepoint simulation relative to the profile whitepoint (true absolute colorimetric mode). If you enable “Use display profile whitepoint as reference white”, then the reference white used for the XYZ to L*a*b* conversion will be that of the display profile, which is useful when verifying video calibrations where the target is usually some standard color space like Rec. 709 with a D65 equivalent whitepoint.

The best monitor calibrator tools are an essential investment for creatives in field such as digital art, graphic design, photography and video. Anyone producing visual work, be it digital or for print, needs an accurate screen, but the reality is that different monitors and laptop screens can produce very different results and even the same screen will change over time. This means that regular screen calibration is vital to make sure you"re seeing your work the way it"s actually going to look.

Failing to calibrate your screen can result in work that doesn"t have the colours or light you intended when you see it on another screen or in print. This is true even of very good monitors and laptops – most need calibration when they come out of the box and then throughout their lives. Ambient lighting also affects how your work looks on a screen, and some of the best monitor calibrators can take this into account.

Some more expensive monitors designed for creative professionals come with their own monitor calibrator tools, but in most cases you"ll need to invest in one of the best monitor calibrator tools, either on its own or in a bundle with other tools. Monitor calibrators are small devices that you place on your screen in order to run a check on the display"s brightness, contrast and colour coverage and accuracy. Some downloadable tools claim to be able to do this too, but they can"t actually "see" your screen like the best monitor calibrators.

You can learn more about the importance of monitor calibration at the bottom of this guide. As for which tools to use, there are really two main brands: Datacolor"s Spyder X range and Calibrite"s ColorChecker (Wacom has a calibrator for its own drawing tablets too). Both Datacolor and Calibrite offer several models: a standard option, a more pro model with extra features and studio packages that can also calibrate printers. They also have bundles that include other tools, often aimed mainly at photographers.

Below, we"ve selected the best monitor calibrator tools at different price points based on our own reviewers" experiences using them, their specs, the types of screens they can calibrate and useful extra features like ambient light detection and multi-screen calibration. As well as using these tools to calibrate their own monitors, our reviewers regularly use them to test displays when we carry out our reviews of new monitors.

Datacolor is one of the best-known brands when it comes to monitor calibration, and it"s followed up its Spyder5 range of monitor calibrators with SpyderX, which we"ve found to improve on nearly every aspect of the previous models. SpyderX monitor calibrators use a new lens-based sensor system that makes calibration faster while also increasing accuracy so you can be even more confident in your screen"s colour accuracy. If you calibrate your monitors regularly (and we recommend you do), the faster calibration can save you quite a bit of time in the long run.

This monitor calibrator allows you to use your profile across multiple displays (either on the same machine or network) as well as assess the ambient light in your workspace to set your monitor up for best results. A technology called Flare Correct will measure and adjust your display profile for reduced contrast ratios caused by glare on your screen. Video colour standards are also incorporated, so video editors can set up their display for best results, too.

This isn"t a general-purpose display calibrator unlike all the others here. Instead it"s designed specifically for use with Wacom"s own Cintiq pen displays (and not all of them, so be sure to check if yours is compatible). If you do use a compatible Wacom Cintiq tablet, then the Wacom Colour Manager is the best monitor calibrator we can recommend to ensure the accuracy of your screen. It"s fairly expensive – comparable to the Calibrite Display Pro at number 2 above, but it"s a specialist tool for a very particular task.What is a monitor calibrator tool?Monitor calibration involves measuring and adjusting the colours on your computer monitor to meet a set standard. The best monitor calibrator tools include two components to do that: hardware and software. The hardware takes the form of a sprectocolorimiter or colorimeter, which measures your monitor and records colour values, brightness and contrast, as well as other variables. The software takes that data and builds a colour profile for your monitor.What"s the purpose of a monitor calibrator tool?The monitor you use and the setting where you locate it can have a big impact on how your work looks. Every screen displays images differently, so the colours you see on a phone screen, your monitor or a client"s monitor will vary. That"s because the internal workings of every screen are different (before you factor in the screen settings and ambient light conditions).

This is a big deal for anyone who works in visual arts and design. Most computer screens give a vibrant, dynamic picture, but this isn’t always the best for editing your photos, for example. If you edit images on a monitor that hasn’t been calibrated, you may end up exporting pictures that look oversaturated, muted or have an obvious colour cast when you see them on another screen or on a printed support.

It doesn’t matter which colour space you select on your camera or how you adjust Photoshop’s settings – if the screen has a warm cast or a cool blue cast and isn’t showing you an accurate picture, then any edits you make may be subtly or substantially out.

So which version represents the “true” colour? And will printed materials look like they do on your screen? This is where the best monitor calibrators come in. Technically known as colorimeters, they look at your screen and detect any discrepancies, taking account of how your display actually looks in your office space, whether that"s at home, in a co-working space or from a dedicated workspace.

They can then program your computer then programmed to compensate for the colour inaccuracy of your monitor. Calibrating your monitor also means looking after yourself because it helps reduce eye strain during intensive work sessions.How do I choose the best monitor calibrator for me?How much you need to spend on a monitor calibrator depends to an extent on what you need it to calibrate and what you use your screen for, but there are several features to consider

Screen types:Monitors use different types of technology, and that can affect their colours, so you want a calibration tool that can account for things like LED backlighting. Most of the tools we"ve included in our guide to the best monitor calibrators can be used on any monitor or laptop, and also on projectors, but always double-check the tool you"re going to buy.

Ambient light detection: look for this feature for customised calibration that adapts to compensate for the surrounding ambient light in your room or office.

Speed: how fast your monitor calibration tool works might not seem so important, but if you calibrate your monitor as often as your should, then you"ll be grateful for a fast device. Most options will actually remind you when it"s time for your to calibrate your screen again.

Other features:More advanced features to look out for on monitor calibrators are conformity with the best-known colour standards and screen calibration, which ensures you see the same colours across a multi-monitor setup.How often should I calibrate my monitor?All monitors change in colour, contrast, and brightness as they age. Because of this, the majority of the best calibration software suggests you calibrate your monitor (or monitors) every 2-6 weeks. With the monitor calibrators we"ve listed above, the process only takes around two minutes per monitor.

LCD monitors don’t age or change as quickly as older CRT technology, but you still want to rest assured that colours on your screen are accurate so even an LCD should be calibrated every six months at the very least. For a detailed look at how monitor calibration tools work, see our article on how to calibrate your monitor.Is Calibrite the same as X-Rite monitor calibrators?This is a question we sometimes get asked about one of the two major brands in monitor calibrator tools. Basically, yes; the tools that used to be X-Rite are now Calibrite. X-Rite owns a number of subsidiaries, including the well-known colour specialist Pantone. In mid-2021, it split off its monitor calibrator tools into a separate company, Calibrite.

- The color and brightness uniformity of the screen is never perfect and will vary across the screen area. However, the color sensor is only measuring and adjusting the center of the screen.

- The color of the LCD displays will vary slightly with viewing angle. So when viewing a video wall, each display will be viewed from a different angle which causes color shifts.

- The colors on the LCD screen can be temporarily distorted by any pressure applied to the screen. applying too much pressure to the color sensor during calibration can cause inaccurate color matching.

Tap the Mode button (see green rectangle in image below) on the bottom edge of the screen to go to the Setup menu. On a wall-mount touchscreen this is accessible after removing the screen from the wall. Portable wired touchscreens have a door below the display that hinges toward you to reveal the buttons and LEDs. The wireless handheld P-LCD has a plastic door that opens at the top (thinner edge, opposite the power button), after which you tilt the antenna up to access the button.

There are separate instructions below, depending on which hardware model and which firmware version it’s running. The model type is on a sticker found on the back of the touchscreen.

A white screen with a + symbol will show up in the top left corner. Tap it with your finger or stylus, and repeat for the other four that subsequently pop up after each press.

Press {Clear} to clear the drawings you make on the screen, {Recalibrate} to start the process over if it still is not correct, or {Close} to return to your configuration, or the Setup menu.

In Paradigm 3.0.0 we introduced gestures to P-TS7 hardware, which requires a thin band of pixels on the outside edge of the screen to detect those movements. The way of calibrating touchscreens in software versions lower than 3.0.0 has enough variability that the calibration may cause that thin band of pixels to be missing from the screen.

Press {Screen} screen button and then press {Calibrate Touchscreen} in the bottom left of the screen. You’ll see a screen much like the previous instructions, however there is no + symbols to touch.

In Paradigm 4.0.0 we removed the ability to calibrate the P-TS7 touchscreens in the field. The factory sets the calibration during manufacturing, and much like your cell phone or home tablet, never should need to be calibrated again. Instead of a {Calibrate Touchscreen} button in the Setup menu, you"ll see a {Test Touchscreen} button, which goes to a white screen with a {Close} button. This utility is great for verifying that it takes touch properly. Pushing and holding the Mode button will also get you access to the test screen.

On most LCD screens there is no calibration at all. As the background LED is manufactured by a one manufacturer, the LCD manufacturer (just the LED panel without back-light) is generated by another. Since the LCD manufacturer doesn"t know which LEDs are going to be used, pre-calibration is impossible.

Even if you do find an LCD panel that has a built in driver that support calibration (3x4 matrix, 2D functions or even a 3D LUT engine) you should generate the calibration data with a colorimator (like x-rite or spyder). Doing this by the naked eye is quite hard (impossible??)

Whether you are creating, editing, or checking your work, this screen offers ample space to focus on 4K content. At a dense 149 ppi, it’s suited for not only video editing but also photo retouching and printing.

In compliance with the DCI standard, the ColorEdge CG319X offers a high contrast ratio of 1500:1* for producing true blacks that are otherwise difficult to display on a LCD monitor. When you view a typical LCD monitor at an angle within a poorly lit room, the dark tones usually appear to be washed out. The CG Series comes with a retardation film which allows dark tones to retain their depth even when viewing from an angle.

Ideal for captions and critical images: Thanks to the safe area marker, you will know which area of the screen is displayed on another output device. You will therefore see immediately whether subtitles, text, or other important image elements are in the visible area. So that the marker can be clearly seen in all images, you can change the marker colour.

Every MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display undergoes a state-of-the-art factory display calibration process on the assembly line to ensure the accuracy of the P3 wide color panel and the individual backlight LEDs. In addition, the factory calibration process enables sophisticated built-in algorithms to accurately reproduce a variety of color spaces used by media workflows today, including sRGB, BT.601, BT.709,​ and even P3-ST.2084 (HDR).

The factory display calibration process lets MacBook Pro users enjoy an exceptional viewing experience right out of the box. If your workflow requires custom calibration, you can measure your display, then fine-tune the calibration.

You can use a set of QuickTime movie test patterns from Apple to evaluate the calibration of your Liquid Retina XDR display. These appropriately color-tagged SDR and HDR references allow you to use your in-house spectroradiometer to measure and verify the color primaries/secondaries and luminance, including the electro-optical transfer function (EOTF).

Compare the color (chromaticity) and luminance values you measured to those in the Reference Values.txt file in the test pattern’s folder. Depending on the tolerance or calibration of your spectroradiometer, there may be some variation in readings relative to the reference values.

If your workflow is tuned to a specific target, you can fine-tune the calibration of your display. This lets you adjust the white point and luminance of your display to more precisely match your own in-house display calibration target. Learn more about the different values you can adjust

Apple recommends measuring and calibrating in an environment with ambient temperatures of 77 degrees fahrenheit or cooler. For the most repeatable results, ambient temperatures should be similar during calibration and in typical use.

If you fine-tune the calibration of your display, make sure that when you measure your display, the test pattern matches the reference mode you intend to fine-tune. For example, use the HDR Video (P3–ST 2084) preset when using the HDR10-based patterns.

Yes it"ll help, but no calibration can work miracles. If you"ve set up the TV with the user menus and a setup disc, you"ve done a lot of what a calibrator will do. Depending on the TV and how well you set the TV up yourself, you might get subjectively 10% to 20% better picture quality. A professional calibrator can go beyond the user-accessible menus, but they can"t change the nature of the TV. A cheap LCD will never look as good as an OLED, but it"s possible to make it look as good as it possibly can.

This service can cost $250 and up. Is it worth paying for, or can you do it yourself? To answer that question, let"s look at what calibration is, and isn"t, to figure out if it"s worth it for you. Remember, TV calibration isn"t going to make a $500 TV look like a $2,000 TV, but it will make just about any TV or

First some semantics. Often the words "calibration" and "setup" are used interchangeably. This is incorrect. Setup is what you can do with the basic TV controls with either setup Blu-ray discs available. Calibration requires specialized test equipment (which we"ll discuss in a moment), and a trained calibrator who knows how to use it.

Calibration costs money, and while it will get the most out of your TV, the difference between a calibrated TV and a non-calibrated TV in its most accurate settings, like in the Movie or Cinema mode for example, usually isn"t massive.

Some TVs also allow the adjustment of the actual color points, meaning a calibrator can make all colors more realistic. Done right, and on TVs that support it, it"s one of my favorite aspects of calibration. I love accurate colors and wouldn"t own a TV that didn"t have accurate color. Not all calibrators can adjust color points accurately, as it depends on the measurement equipment used and your TV"s available controls. If this interests you, it"s worth asking about beforehand.

The cost of a calibration varies, but expect to pay between $250 and $400. Specialty retailers might charge more or less depending on the complexity of the TV, if you want additional HDR calibration, if you want them to calibrate multiple picture modes, and other variables.

Is this worth it for you? I can see both sides of this, though it"s hard for me to be unbiased, as I can calibrate my own TV. Despite what proponents of calibration tell you, the difference between calibrated and uncalibrated settings for most TVs isn"t huge. This difference is getting even more narrow, as the better modern TVs tend to be relatively accurate out of the box (i.e. before calibration) in their best picture settings. Not perfect, mind you, but significantly closer than TVs from 10+ years ago.

A correctly calibrated TV will likely look more pleasing to the eye, and may -- depending on its light output afterward -- draw less power and even last longer. This is because a calibrated TV generally has a dimmer picture than the "torch mode" default settings. So because the TV is producing less light, it uses less power and can enjoy a longer lifespan thanks to reduced strain on the light-generating parts of the TV. This is especially true of OLED TVs, though to a small extent LCDs as well.

Certain TV manufacturers have a relationship with the Imaging Science Foundation, one of the leading companies that offers training for calibrators. TVs from these companies have specific calibration-friendly picture modes, such as ISF-Day and ISF-Night. These allow different settings depending on the amount of light expected in the room, making sure the TV looks its best regardless of the time of day. Other TVs might offer day and night modes as well, without the ISF connection. Again, this is all something to discuss with your calibrator.

We"ve been discussing calibration mostly as it relates to televisions, but projectors can be calibrated too. In fact, they"re more likely to need it. Projectors are a two-part system: There"s the projector itself and the screen. There"s no way for a manufacturer to know what screen you"re using. So in addition to the unit-to-unit variation, there"s also the difference between screens. Some might shift the image blue, for instance.

Two main companies train people to become professional calibrators: these are the Imaging Science Foundation and THX. You can find calibrators in your area at those links. Best Buy"s Geek Squad also promotes ISF-Certified calibrators, though the company told us they started phasing this out in 2021. Your local Best Buy might still offer calibration, but not all will.

In both courses, trainees are taught the basics of TV setup and the advantages of calibration. Then they"re shown how to calibrate a television. THX claims its course is more "hands-on," though both do an excellent job.

You could buy a color meter and calibrate your TV yourself, though the more accurate tools to do this often cost as much, if not more, than a professional calibration. The cheapest options aren"t going to offer accuracy much better than what your eye can do on its own. Also, even if the device is accurate (a big "if"), the learning curve can be pretty steep. The new

Another shortcut to calibration is copying someone else"s settings from the web. This isn"t as useful as it sounds. Every TV is different, so one person"s settings aren"t going to be the correct settings for your TV. Sometimes the difference might just be a few clicks in either direction. Other times, the difference can be huge.

If you"re a do-it-yourselfer, you can get your TV most of the way there with a setup disc and a bit of your time. A good calibration will get it the rest of the way, making your TV look as good as possible. With most TVs hiring a pro won"t make a huge difference, but if you want assurance that your new TV looks its best, it might be worth the price for you.